I live in northern san diego county and am looking for a reasonably priced source for grass fed beef and free range chickens. There are soooooo many in central and northern cali, but are there any in southern cali? I found one but it comes to around $10/lb... I suppose I would be willing to order from someone up north, if any of you ladies have good reccomendations! Thanks so much!

The only place I have found grass fed beef is in a small shop in La Jolla (can't remember the name, though, sorry- all I know is that it was near the x-mas parade route and not far from Burger Lounge where you can eat out grass-fed beef) and they carry some at Cream of the Crop on coast highway in Oceanside (although it is NOT local).

So the shop in La Jolla is called Homegrown Meats. It's on the corner of Kline and Fay, I think, a block towards the ocean from Vons. There was an article about their operation - they have a ranch they use on Palomar Mountain - in the most recent edition of Edible San Diego.

Basically there is no slaughterhouse in San Diego County and so they have to drive all the cattle up north to butcher them. Michael Pollan mentions this barrier for small operations in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Whole Foods and Jimbo's also carry pastured meats.

Trader Joe's has organic, grass-fed ground beef for $6 a pound. From Australia, but the price is the lowest I have found in the area.

The print edition of Edible SD also has advertisements from small farmers growing animals by hand for meat. Maybe that would be a resource for you. Another option would be to buy a cow or a portion of a cow.

We are looking for a cow as well. My research has led me to Organic Pastures. I asked Mark McAfee himself about drugs (hormones, vaccines, antibiotics, etc) and his animals are clear of them. I am not sure how much shipping would be (I haven't placed an order yet), but I am hoping to actually make the drive up there to pick some up (I would love to see his farm).

I belong to a local CSA, and one of our farms (Sage Mountain) grows a few types of steer, fed organically: Grass Fed only (June and July), Grass and Organic Vegetable Fed (July thru December) and
Grass, Organic Vegetable and Organic Grain fed (May thru December). You can contact them at [email protected]

Since our whole family is eating gluten free now, we have started eating a lot more meat. But we don't trust the store bought beef here in San Diego.

And it has to be 100% grass- fed organic, which is very pricey. But we mostly have been eating roasts and ground beef, which is affordable. And my two young boys love it. I happened to stop by the San Marcos Farmer's Market on a whim on Sunday. And there's a new grass-fed beef ranch there called Bella Coola Beef. Their ground beef was amazing, since it is dry-aged and lean. Next time we will try some steaks. The site is: http://bellacoolabeef.com/ I think they may have a CSA but I'm not sure.

Organic Pastures is primarily a (huge) raw dairy so they aren't truly a beef producer. I am not wild about their meat. We've had really good luck with ordering from New York State based 8 o'clock ranch http://www.8oclockranch.com/ Even with shipping it is less expensive than local prices and the quality has been particularly good. You can do an animal share or by the cut. I particularly like their lamb. We buy most beef through Whole Foods, I like the stuff they carry from Hearst Ranch? I think, step four. But it is seasonal and all of the stores don't carry it.